I was discussing presidential candidates with someone this past week. I said my favorite candidate was Michele Bachmann. He said he didn’t think she had enough experience to be President.
Really! What does experience have to do with being a great president? It sounds like he is looking for a great administrator. I’m not looking for that in a president – I’m looking for a great leader.
There is a wide consensus that our two greatest presidents were George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. While Washington had been a general, it was not his experience that made him great, but rather his judgment, honesty and courage.
And to read the resume of Abraham Lincoln, you would never consider him presidential material. He served four terms in the Illinois State Legislature and one term in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 1847 to 1849. He then lost two elections to the U.S. Senate in 1854 and 1858. And what executive experience did he have – none. What made him great? Character, courage, judgment, honesty.
Look at Ronald Reagan. When he ran for governor of California, he had no executive or political experience, but he was a great governor.
Look at Jimmy Carter, one of the worst presidents in our history. He had a great resume. He was an officer in the Navy, started in leadership positions in county government, then served in the Georgia senate and then as governor of Georgia. He then served as Democratic National Committee campaign chairman for the 1974 congressional and gubernatorial elections. By resume, he should have been an excellent president. And it wasn’t any lack of experience that made him a poor president, but his ideology.
Watch Michele Bachmann as she fends off hostile questions by the national media. Watch her in debates. Here is a woman who knows what she believes and doesn’t flinch. She has all the elements of a great leader – strong conviction, honesty, consistency, courage, and judgment.
She’s my pick for President. Hands down.
